New Member!! Advice?

[Trypan]

Hi All,

I've been lurking on here for about a week and I love the community I see here.

I'm 100% completely new to bird keeping. I'm wanting a parrot that is ok with being alone while I'm at work (sometimes as much as 10 hours). I also want a bird that is quiet in terms of decibels. I love hearing chatter from birds, but I live in an apartment and am sensitive to decibel levels. I'm currently looking at a couple of Pyrrhura species, and a Derbyan Parakeet (a baby just came into a shop that hand weans babies). I would also be ok waiting for the next breeding season and getting a parrotlet or a Poicephalus (ideally a Red-bellied, but also a Meyer's or Senegal). I also saw a beautiful Amazon and a CAG at a rescue who were calm while most of the other Amazons and Greys in the building were screaming to match the Macaws and Cockatoos, but IDK how they would be with me.

I also have a VERY prey driven, velcro dog (40 pound beagle mix) but he's been right next to SCREAMING cockatiels at his eye level and he just looks at me like "what's going on Dad?". Dog and parrot will remain separate, but I want to make sure that if an accident happens where a door gets left open or parrot escapes its cage.

Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions? I am open to ANY suggestions for finding a great bird. Thanks!!!

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed. There ain't a parrot species alive that won't make noise at some point in the day ( maybe a stuffed one?). And at 10 hrs a day in his cage, maybe more while he is sleeping, right (?), how much time per day will you actually have to socialize with him? Plus the prey driven dog, sorry, if I was a parrot, I would not want to be yours. Harsh maybe but really look at it from the parrots point of view. Incarceration for 18 hrs a day, and a slavering dog waiting for an accident for the 4 hours (maybe) that I get outside the cell.

 

[Scott]

Cockatiels check the box for many, literally a complete parrot in small apartment-friendly package.

Wrench13 brings good points reference your dog. Highly prey driven animals must be totally sequestered from a bird at all times - trust me we've seen breakdowns with this scenario and bird is always the loser. You'll have to balance quality of life for each companion before considering an addition.

 

[texsize]

An African Grey can be a quite bird for its size it would not do well by itself for so long.
Even the quietest Amazon is going to scream sometimes.

Cockatiels might be workable but a solo bird would still be lonely.
Perhaps 2 Cockatiels that get along together would work best.

Never owned Budgies so I can’t speak for them.

 

[Kitekeeper]

Welcome Trypan!

The guys here gave you good suggestions. I am still laughing on the quiet stuffed parrot . Indeed, they all can be noisy at some level.

Just so you know, do not have a lovebird, these guys are loud! I love them but must admit they are not suitable for your situation.

I have no experience with bigger parrots other than the observing neighbourhood amazons and macaws. Those are loud too!

Regarding the level of noise of small parrots, I would say that budgies will be singing all day long, but in a very discrete way if kept solo. The pacific parrotlet is also a very quiet one, that prefers to chirp than to scream. Parrotlets are very territorial and can adjust well to live as a single.

However the quieter small parrot I know is the Linneolated parakeet. These are funny ones that are so quiet and discrete that they even move like a sloth. I don?t know if they are ok to be kept alone, although keeping a pair will give you half the noise of a single parrot of any other species. One last thing about linnies, they love company, so I think to stay so long waiting your work shift to end, might be a bit tough for them.

 

[fiddlejen]

So is that a 10-hour Shift, PLUS commute time?, or are you already adding in commute time? And, you said "sometimes." Is that frequent, or occasional?

When I got my Sun Conure I was working an 8-hour shift - BUT - that did NOT include lunch, which you punch-out for, and overtime could occur easily. So 8.5 - 9 hours with a half-hour commute each way. Any stops for errands, etc, and I could be gone more than 10 hours easily. (THEN i had some unexpected health issues, with PT appts, so actually was gone much longer than 10 hours many days.)

For me, and for my bird, it worked just fine. However, before I got my Sunny, I had gotten my two parakeets (budgies). They have huge cages, the 2 keets in one and Sunny in separate larger cage. I keep the cages next to each other -- in the front windows. (Slightly offset, so they can get away from window if they wish.) And I taught the mail lady to greet her every day, as well as asking my upstairs neighbors to do the same when they go by.

So Sunny was Never "all alone," she always had her budgie friends in a cage next to her.

I also kept a corner of her cage covered so she could sleep when it gets dark. (This can be controversial due to birdie hormones, but it worked for her.) I left Classical music Radio playing, ONLY while I was at work.

AND, most important. Sunny got ALL my free time when I was home. (Well some time for the budgies too, but they made it clear from the beginning, more interested in each other than me.)

So long hours could work, but in this case my concern would be your dog. If you get a small parrot, you could get a few finches in a separate cage, for birdie company that would not require additional hours of your attention for their socialization.

BUT -- If you give All your free time to a parrot then what about your dog? With a High Prey Drive, it really would not be safe to have them out at the same time. And your dog will need your free time also.

 

[Trypan]

10 hours is less than once a week, and as I'm settling in, it is becoming less and less frequent I just listed that as the max time I am away from home. As I get my home work station setup, I'm hoping to be more like 3 hours a day at the office and mostly working from home. My commute is less than 10 minutes each way, so that isn't a big issue for me.

As for my dog (Fred), his prey drive seems to be more focused on specific animals rather than anything small, fast, and loud. He has been within a couple of inches of a screeching cockatiel (with plexiglass between them) and he totally ignored it. He also is great around TINY dogs. He goes absolute NUTS for squirrels, rabbits, and ground hogs. Maybe high prey drive is the wrong word. He has a very high drive to run down specific animals, and is curious about others.

(The bird will live in the work from home office most of the time, plus will have a cage in the living room where it can be around me/interact with me while I'm also with my dog. So as I transition to being WFH more and more, I will be spending more and more time with my bird.)

 

[Scott]

You might devise a nearly foolproof method of sharing time with bird and dog while ensuring they remain sequestered from direct physical contact. Trick is to devise easy and repeatable methods that become "muscle memory" without fail.

 

[Flboy]

All good advice! Some hard decisions!

 

[Cardinal]

A flock of 6 budgies -3 non breeding pairs ina double barricaded indoor aviary will be my suggestion.

Give away the dog to a caring friend if possible. Predatory mammals and birds are a disaster waiting to happen. May not happen for 3 consecutive years but all it takes is a minute or two sometimes seconds.